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The focus of this research is to use the thermal ablation properties of a Nd:YAG infrared laser to highlight the thermal damage caused by the extinction of the plasma, which leads to the disappearance of the spectra of certain polymers as the laser energy increases. The study involved testing five commonly used polymers: polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) also known as Teflon, polyoxymethylene (POM), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Bakelite, and polyamide. Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis was used to qualitatively analyze the plasma generated from the polymer samples, identifying the excited species present in each of the five polymers. Wavelength dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (WDXRF) analysis of the polymer samples further confirmed the identification of these excited species. The results obtained from the spectra recorded at different laser energies in an air environment showed that the saturation observed in the plasma, induced by increasing laser energy, is not consistently observed for all polymers. This plasma extinction phenomenon in certain polymers is attributed to thermal effects when using an infrared (IR) laser as a heating source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas detection is vital for safety in important industrial and private sectors. Its major significance lies in its proactive risk mitigation, safeguarding lives and resources. In this paper, the focus is on the development of a gas sensor based on quartz crystal microbalance coated with a sensitive layer of zinc oxide (ZnO)--graphene nanocomposite for the detection of volatile organic compounds at room temperature. The incorporation of graphene or reduced graphene oxide is preferred in such applications due to their excellent electrical conductivity, chemical stability, and high surface area. These nanocomposites were synthesized using a chemical method via spray pyrolysis. Various techniques were employed to analyze the coated QCM electrode: contact angle measurements to assess surface wettability, Fourier transform infrared and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to investigate the composition of the coated electrode, and scanning electron and atomic force microscopies were used to study its surface morphology. These analyses provided valuable insights into the nanocomposite's interaction with the environment, composition, structure, and topography of the sensor's sensitive layer. To evaluate the sensor's sensitivity, the frequency shift (_f) of the coated QCM electrode is monitored when exposed to different gas concentrations of ethanol, toluene, chloroform, humidity, and formamide, ranging from 47 to 142 ppm. The frequency shift indicated the detected gas concentration. The results demonstrate good repeatability and reversibility, which are crucial indicators of a sensor's reliability. This reliability is essential for applications in environmental monitoring or industrial safety, where accurate gas detection is critical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to the analysis of the mean-square stability of a class of linear time-varying impulsive Itô-type stochastic systems. We succeed to obtain necessary and sufficient stability conditions in the general time-varying case. This result is obtained thanks to the theory of positive operators on Hilbert spaces. The problem of statefeedback stabilization is treated as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We study a class of coupled nonlinear matrix differential equations arising in connection with the solution of a zero‐sum two‐player linear quadratic (LQ) differential game for a dynamical system modeled by an Itô differential equation subject to random switching of its coefficients. The system of differential equations under consideration contains as special cases the game‐theoretic Riccati differential equations arising in the solution of the H∞ control problem from the deterministic and stochastic cases. A set of sufficient conditions that guarantee the existence of the bounded and stabilizing solution of this kind of Riccati differential equations is provided. We show how such stabilizing solution is involved in the construction of the equilibrium strategy of a zero‐sum LQ stochastic differential game on an infinite‐time horizon and give as a byproduct the solution of such a control problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is interested in the effect of an axial magnetic field imposed on incompressible flow of electrically conductive fluid between two horizontal coaxial cylinders. The imposed magnetic field is assumed uniform and constant. The effect of heat generation due to viscous dissipation is also taken into account. The inner and outer cylinders are maintained at different uniform temperatures. The movement of the fluid is due to rotation of the cylinder with a constant speed. An exact solution of the equations governing the flow was obtained in the form of Bessel functions. A finite difference implicit scheme was used in the numerical solution. The velocity and temperature distributions were obtained with and without the magnetic field. The results show that for different values of the Hartmann number, the velocity between the two cylinders decreases as the Hartmann number increases. Also, it is found that by increasing the Hartmann number, the average Nusselt number decreases. On the other hand, the Hartmann number does not affect the temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]